Voting in India’s general election, a six-week-long referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decade in power, came to a close Saturday as much of the country’s populous north was gripped by a deadly heat wave.
Results will be tallied and announced Tuesday.
Modi, his power deeply entrenched, is seen as likely to win a third consecutive term as prime minister, which would make him only the second leader in India’s nearly 75 years as a republic to achieve that feat. Exit polls released after the last round of voting suggested a comfortable return for his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.
A newly united opposition has put up a fight, rallying against Modi’s divisive politics and management of India’s deeply unequal economic growth. But the exit polls indicated it was struggling to significantly cut into the sizable majority in the 543-seat Parliament held by Modi’s party.
In a message of thanks after voting closed, Modi expressed confidence that “the people of India have voted in record numbers to reelect” his government. But Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress, played down the exit polls as “government surveys” and said official results will show that his alliance was ahead.
The election, held in phases over a month and a half, is the largest democratic exercise in the world, with more than 950 million eligible voters.
The last stretch of the campaigning drew large rallies even as northern India baked under an intense heat wave. At least 19 poll workers have died from heatstroke or other health complications resulting from the heat in recent days.
Elections in a parliamentary system such as India’s are usually fought seat by seat, with a candidate’s fate determined by local economic and social factors. But the BJP made its parliamentary campaign into a presidential-style referendum, putting the focus almost entirely on Modi and his leadership. The party hoped that Modi’s deep popularity would help it overcome a growing anti-incumbent sentiment 10 years into the BJP’s rule.
The New York Times News Service
